#22 China Cat

false teeth by saving up, and got surgery to remove the decayed ones. The government covered that. She took very good care of them, and took them out every night. He loved oral sex without them, but still wouldn’t return the favour. She was cleaning them when she dropped the bottom plate. It broke. She was devastated. It completely changed her looks, but not what she ate, nor him. He still followed her around, listened, and asked for sex every night. He said nothing would change in his heart. She knew she was lucky, because work, and he accepted her, so she didn’t bother replacing the bottom plate.

He got caught cheating. There was no reason for it. Eve knew about her, but China didn’t know about Eve. Not at first anyway. China was working every weekday, and Saturday too, so he saw Eve when China was at work. He was taking her out on dates, and then going back to her place. She saw them holding hands and the breeze blowing through her long blond hair. She was pretty, and younger than China. She didn’t say anything for quite a few months while she thought about it. She blamed him not her. He still wanted sex every night, and that was easy, as she didn’t like it, but she was used to that. She wondered if he made love to Eve every time he saw her. Of course he did. That turned her on a bit.

She let it go on, didn’t say a thing, but she could tell the day he saw Eve. He went on shower days, so Eve couldn’t smell her, but she could smell Eve when he came back. He smelled faintly like candy on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, so that meant he had to shower on Saturdays too. He said that he liked to be clean for her and God, but she knew he was hiding her from Eve. She didn’t even tell him things anymore. She couldn’t stand him. She asked him to vacuum while she was at work, and he didn’t. He wouldn’t cook, or clean, and he was cheating. He wouldn’t work, ate like a glutton, and he was getting fat, which wasn’t attractive. She couldn’t stand to see him eat, and she didn’t want to go home. What good was he. It got so she hated him.

China decided what to do about it. She went to visit Eve, and found out everything she had been wondering about. China recognized the sweet smell as soon as she entered. She watched Eve quietly sob as she as she told her all about herself, the marriage, and the sex every night. China was right. Eve knew about her, and the marriage, but she didn’t know about the sex. He told her that he slept on the couch, she would hardly feed him, and he worked nights. Eve worked nights too, and made him a hot lunch with meat. He said that China started taking all his money. Eve didn’t know a thing about his family, daughter included, and they didn’t know about her. He was going to get a divorce in a year and then marry her. He was setting Eve up to to be like China. They both saw that. Eve walked to the door, they hugged, and Eve said she would never smell her again, because she was going to move away, and never tell Thomas. China wanted him to suffer.

He did suffer, and China watched with satisfaction. Eve broke up with him. It was true, China no longer smelled her, he smelled like cheese, and didn’t shower as much. He stunk and moped around the apartment, but still asked for sex every night, even though he was disgusting. He played the same mournful song on the guitar over and over again, and ate all the food. He really loved Eve. She almost regretted it. Almost, is the key word. She actually relished seeing him suffer, and it made her hate him more. He got sadder, and she got madder. She realized he wouldn’t get better until he found Eve. China didn’t like him anymore anyway.